Dr Sue Velovski (facilitator) is a Specialist General Surgeon working in the Northern Rivers of NSW. A staunch advocate for all rural doctors in her community and across Australia, Sue’s special interest is in surgical oncology. She is passionate about providing cancer patients the appropriate care for the stage of their disease and is an outspoken advocate for honest, evidence-based decision making in surgery and good ongoing care for patients. She also maintains trauma skills - a great benefit in rural areas. Sue is actively involved in surgery and surgical and non-technical skills education in Australia and overseas. Sue is the current Chair of RDAA’s Rural Specialist Group (RSG), a committee member of RDANSW and the 2022 co-Rural Doctor of the Year. In 2023, she was awarded a NSW Rural Scholarship in Leadership by NSW Health and Future Women, and a Supporting Women’s Health Award by the Resilience Together Association.

Dr RT Lewandowski is a Rural Generalist in Far North Queensland, and an ACRRM Fellow with advanced skills in operative obstetrics and endoscopy. He currently provides endoscopy services at Cairns Base hospital and obstetric and emergency services at several rural hospitals in far North Queensland. He spent the previous 8 years providing general practice, emergency, obstetrics and endoscopy services in Kingaroy (Queensland), after emigrating from the United States in 2008 where he worked as a rural doctor in Missouri for 12 years. Dr Lewandowski became President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) in October 2023, after serving for the previous year as RDAA President-elect. He is a past President of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland (RDAQ), and a former Director of the Rural Doctors Foundation.

Eliza is the First Assistant Secretary for Health Workforce Division in the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. The Division aims to ensure all Australians can access high quality health services, including in regional, rural and remote communities, by delivering a strong, educated and well distributed health workforce. The Division delivers key initiatives that are focused on improving the capacity, quality, and distribution of health services to meet the needs of all communities. This includes initiatives targeted at growing the medical workforce in regional, rural and remote Australia, such as the Australian General Practice Training Program and the Rural Generalist Training Scheme, the Specialist Training Program, and the Rural Multidisciplinary Training Program.

Dr Sara Armitage is a rural obstetrician/gynaecologist based in Geraldton since 2011. Raised in North Queensland, she has always been drawn to the beauty and challenges of working in non-metropolitan health care. She has the pleasure of working with an amazing team of GP Obstetricians who provide woman-centred and continuous maternity care in both the public and private system. Sara received the WA Rural Specialist (non GP) award in 2024. In her spare time, she rides any type of bike in the Geraldton surroundings and assists her husband in a raising a son.

Anthony is a former Royal Australian Air Force pilot with 25 years of distinguished service, including global combat and peacekeeping operations. He served alongside Special Forces teams in Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 2004 for exceptional leadership and command as an aircraft captain under hostile fire. His military career also encompassed defence capability development, strategic reform, and work with the Office of the Governor-General. After retiring from the Air Force, Anthony flew commercially with Virgin Australia before transitioning to the healthcare sector in 2017. He has since held executive roles in a tertiary hospital and with St John Ambulance WA. He also pioneered NEXUS, Australia’s first hospital-wide, industry-based Human Factors training program. Anthony is deeply passionate about leadership, team development, and fostering organisational excellence. He now applies his entrepreneurial expertise to support technology and healthcare ventures, advancing patient care and safety while enabling sustainable business growth. Among all his achievements, he considers being a father his greatest reward.